Microsoft Teams is rolling out an exciting new feature designed to improve collaboration during structured meetings, webinars, and town halls. Starting early 2026, organisers, co-organizers, and presenters will have access to a private chat—a dedicated space for key participants to communicate before, during, and after events without involving attendees.
This update also introduces consistent backroom chat behavior for town halls, removing previous variations caused by streaming chat settings or Teams Premium licensing. The goal: a unified, predictable experience across all structured meetings.
Rollout Timeline
- Targeted Release: Early January 2026 – Mid-January 2026
- General Availability (Worldwide & GCC): Mid-February 2026 – Late February 2026
Applies to: Teams for Windows, Mac, Web, iOS/Android, and Teams Rooms devices.
What’s Changing?
Here’s a quick look at the key improvements:
- Private Chat for Organizers and Presenters A separate chat channel exclusively for event leaders, available before, during, and after the session.
- Unified Backroom Chat Policy for Town Halls Backroom chat will now default to ON for all town halls, regardless of streaming chat or license type. Existing town halls will adopt this policy once meeting options are updated.
Impact on Your Organisation
Who is affected?
Admins managing Teams meetings, webinars, and town halls.
Key Changes:
- Private chat for organisers and presenters is separate from attendee chat.
- Backroom chat defaults to ON for all town halls after rollout.
- If admins disable backroom chat, previously enabled town halls will lose access after updates.
- Non-Teams Premium town halls will have backroom chat ON by default post-rollout.
What You Need to Do
- Review Teams meeting policies to decide whether to enable private chat for organisers and presenters.
- Communicate changes to helpdesk staff and event organisers.
- Update internal documentation to reflect new backroom chat behavior.
- If you prefer to disable backroom chat, please get in touch.
Compliance
No new compliance concerns have been identified. Review your organisation’s policies as needed.
